


The Soccer Game

by someofthissomeofthat11011



Series: Spierfeld Week <3 [4]
Category: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli
Genre: College, M/M, Spierfeld Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 20:43:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14316789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/someofthissomeofthat11011/pseuds/someofthissomeofthat11011
Summary: Bram is on his college’s soccer team. He convinces Simon to play in the Sunday Funday tournament.





	The Soccer Game

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Spierfeld Day 4: College/ University.

 

“No way in hell am I playing soccer and embarrassing myself like that,” Simon said. His arms were crossed in front of his chest. And he was staring at Bram like he was crazy.

“Well this isn’t hell, this is Earth. So is there any way in Earth you’ll play soccer and embarrass yourself?” Bram asked, his eyebrows raised. It was a tradition that the soccer team close the season with a Sunday Funday Tournament. It was supposed to be an opportunity to bring in families, friends, and supporters to play a fun game of soccer. Most players brought their girlfriends, with only a handful bringing other friends or cousins. Bram wanted so badly to bring Simon.

Simon smiled despite himself. “You think you’re so funny, don’t you.”

Bram grinned at him, which was more than enough confirmation. “All of my teammates got their girlfriends to play. And all of us have to bring someone so that the teams can be even. You wouldn't want me to feel left out, would you?”

“Have you told them you are gay yet?” Simon asked him with a deadpan expression.

They had gotten into countless fights about this in the three months since they moved away to college.

When they were seniors, they had agreed not to tell each other what college they were thinking of until they both committed to one. They didn’t want to influence the other’s decision, so they were shocked, and really excited, when they found out they had both decided on the same school. Simon had thought that this would be the most magical time of their lives. They were going to school together and while they didn’t live together, they had spent countless nights together when their roommates were gone.

It was almost perfect, with one exception. While Bram didn’t try to hide he was gay, he also never talked about it. Simon realized this the day before classes started, when he and Bram were eating breakfast together. One of Bram’s teammates came over to invite Bram to a mixer they were having with the girls soccer team. He had told Bram to bring his girlfriend, if he had one. Simon had glared at Bram until his teammate had left. That was the first time they had fought about telling people, but it wasn’t the last.

“I didn’t tell them yet,” Bram said. Simon watched as something snapped in him. “And I don’t plan on it. I’m tired of this being such a big deal. In high school, that was who we were. We were the two gay guys that were dating. I want to be more than that here. The guys on my team show up with their girlfriends like it’s no big deal. They never come out and say that they’re straight. I want to be able to bring you to our Sunday Funday tournament and kiss you when you score a goal. I want to act like loving you isn’t the only thing that defines me. I don’t want to hide that I’m in love with you, but I want it to stop being this big thing I have to announce to the world.”

Simon stared at him. “You never said…” he trailed off and looked at the ground thoughtfully.

“Well, I know it was a big thing for you,” Bram said with a shrug.

“No,” Simon said, shaking his head. “I hate that it’s been such a big thing. I want exactly what you said. I just always felt like it was this monstrous pink elephant in the room, so I thought I had to say something and officially come out. If you want to treat this like it’s any other relationship, I’m all in. We’re adults now and you’re right, we shouldn’t have to keep acting like our dating is this big coming out reveal. It's our Homo Sapiens agenda, remember?”

“Does this mean you’ll play?” Bram asked hopefully.

Simon groaned. “I guess so, but I have one condition. After the game, we can never talk about what happened while I was playing.”

“Not a chance,” Bram said with a grin.

He suddenly felt giddy and weightless.

A little over a week later, he and Simon walked onto the soccer field. Bram was in his uniform and Simon was in the only pair of shorts he owned that were appropriate for soccer. Simon followed Bram to a long bench on the sidelines of the field. He plopped his bag down next to Bram’s.

“Hey Jake,” Bram called out, waving to the only other freshman on the team.

A kid with more freckles that clear skin and hair that was so red it made Simon squint, ran over to them. “Hey Green,” he said with a smile.

“Green?” Simon asked, raising his eyebrows.

“They wrote down my name wrong my first day of tryouts. They thought my name was Green Bramfeld for some reason and the nickname stuck,” he explained. “Jake, this is Simon. Simon, this is Jake.”

Jake shook his hand. “You two ready for the game?” Jake asked.

“Well, I am. Simon’s still working on mastering the art of running without falling down,” Bram teased. They had spent over an hour last night practicing so Simon wouldn’t make a complete fool of himself. But, they didn’t get very far. Simon kept falling down when he went to kick the soccer ball which resulted in Bram laughing until his stomach hurt.

Simon rolled his eyes. “Well excuse me if I didn’t have a very good coach.”

Jake chuckled uncertainly and looked between Simon and Bram as if he were trying to understand something. “Right, well Simon you can join your team. They gave themselves the name of the misfits. Gary’s girlfriend thought it was so cute when she came up with it and you know… she’s the captain’s girlfriend, so it stuck.”

“Right,” Simon said. Despite his bravado before, he was actually pretty scared to look like an idiot in front of all of Bram’s teammates. He shot Bram a nervous look.

“You got this,” Bram said, giving him the thumbs up.

Simon walked towards where his team was huddled. It didn’t escape his notice that he was one of two guys over here. The other guy looked older than he was, but perked up considerably when he saw Simon. “I thought it was just going to be me with these girls,” he whispered. “Not one of them knows anything about soccer.”

“I don’t think I’m going to be much help. Bram tried to teach me a bit about soccer last night, but it was pretty useless.” Simon looked at the ground guiltily.

“You’re Bram’s plus one, huh?” he asked.

“Yeah. And you’re here with…?” Simon asked. He wondered if maybe there was another gay kid on the team.

“Chris is my cousin. His girlfriend broke up with him on Monday and I felt bad for him,” he explained. Or, maybe Bram was the only gay guy on the team. “My name is Bryson.”

“Simon.” Before he had to think of something to say, Bryson turned to the girls around them. They were all in short-shorts and tank-tops that were cut low so you could see the sports bra through the side. Simon could see Bryson oggling a little bit and couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He had a feeling Bryson wasn’t just here to support his cousin.

“Right, so we need to come up with a strategy. Have any of you ever played soccer before?”

It turned out they hadn’t. And that they were all scared of the soccer ball so none of them were willing to play goalie. Bryson had turned to Simon hopefully. “I can stand in the net, but I’m making no promises about being good at it,” Simon warned.

So, when the whistle was blown, Simon ran over to the soccer net. It looked so much bigger up close, Simon mused. He wasn’t sure how anyone could possibly guard the whole thing.

Turns out, Simon did a lot of freaking out about this game over nothing. No one was really taking it seriously, partly because they were so outmatched. Simon was almost a little jealous as he saw some of Bram’s teammates jokingly pick up their girlfriends to steal the ball from them. He was so busy watching that exchange, he didn’t realize that Bram had stolen the ball and was charging towards him until he had gotten past his defensive line… if you could call them that. One girl was actually complaining to someone on her phone about how she’d gotten out of bed for this.

Simon grinned real quick and tried to look more confident than he felt. He tried to remember what Bram had told him last night… when he wasn’t blatantly laughing at Simon’s lack of skill. So as Bram got closer, Simon took small steps to get further from the net. He was by no means ready, but he also had a sneaking suspicion that Bram was going to go easy on him.

Sure enough, Bram lightly kicked the ball so it went right into Simon’s outstretched arms. Instinctively, Simon threw the ball back to Bram. Bram started laughing when he looked down at the ball. “That’s not how soccer works. You’re supposed to throw it towards your teammates.”

“Well, then, give it back,” Simon said walking towards Bram.

“No, it’s mine now,” Bram teased.

“No!” Simon ran to Bram and managed to get his arms around the ball. Bram wrapped his arms around Simon and for a moment, they were just Simon and Bram, fake fighting for the soccer ball. They forgot that they were in the middle of a soccer game, they didn’t remember that there were a ridiculous amount of straight couples watching them.

Simon melted into Bram’s embrace and turned to look at him. He looked absolutely euphoric and Simon figured losing his dignity for the day was worth it if they could have moments like this. Without thinking, Simon leaned up and kissed Bram lightly.

Then he pulled away, bringing the ball with him. “My ball,” he said simply. He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face if he wanted to and believe him… he didn’t want to.

 


End file.
